* Rod confirmed 4 Player Co-Op in the Gears IRC, with 4 unique characters. Rod confirmed that co-op includes Marcus, Dom, Cole, Baird and a "variety of other characters"

Story

* Set 18 months after Gears of War 2, and after the fourth Gears of War book
* The location shown in the "Ashes to Ashes" trailer is a location nicknamed 'Char', where the remains of victims from the Hammer of Dawn strikes are heavily present.

Weapons

* The Pendulum Lancer is in Gears of War 3
* A Double Barrelled Shotgun was spotted in the Ashes to Ashes trailer.

Characters

* Dom is now heavily bearded. According to Rod, this is due to his problems dealing with the loss of his wife.
* Anya is the female COG soldier seen in the "Ashes to Ashes" trailer. We will learn more on her transition from pencil pusher to soldier throughout the books.

Enemies

* Lambent Locust: These enemies mutate and transform as you fight them.

Because i'm fast about these kind of things, GameFly just sent me my copy. Anyone wanna tear through the Campaign with me?

Shoot - I saw you online last night and almost joined. I never made it through the campaign but would love to try with co-op. However, my schedule is really wonky with work/baby/wife/sleep. But I'm usually on for about two hours most night between 8:30 PM and 10:30 PM CST.

Everyone else grab the Forces of Nature map pack? I played a round of public on the five new maps last night, two of which are rehashes from Gears 1 and Gears 2: BlackhawkRaven Down and Jacinto. The covered the map of Raven Down with snow - I don't know if it has any effect. Jacinto is raining pretty heavily - again, I don't know if there is a real reason for it, but it looks nice. Jacinto is now surrounded by Immulsion, so perhaps there is a mode where the Immulsion rises? Aftermath looks like a mix of Jacinto and Mercy, with a little bit of a feel of the larger city-area fights in Gears 1. It gets a little confusing trying to get to the sniper-areas while crossing the courtyards, and it has rumbling ground, like the aftermath of an earthquake. The other two maps I can't recall the name of offhand, but one is sort of flat with run-down buildings - Docks maybe?, that makes me think of the desert city map in Gears 2, but without the sandstorm. The other one was apparently totally forgettable.